Chapter 68: Splitting the Money

The next day, at the entrance of the "Big Scissors," the old comrade He Guangying saw Wu Yuchen and immediately asked:

"Little Wu, did you bring the medal?"

After he took the medal and smiled, stroking it several times, he led Wu Yuchen inside together.

Inside the room, several people were sitting as if chatting casually, and Wu Yuchen also had a chair; there was no sign at all that they were going to criticize him.

A middle-aged man smiled and said to Wu Yuchen:

"I've watched this film of yours; it's indeed shot quite well. However, according to regulations, it cannot be widely disseminated domestically. Do you understand?"

Wu Yuchen nodded obediently.

"Little Comrade Wu, your talent is quite outstanding. We won't hold the short film against you, but pay attention to your sense of proportion when shooting feature films in the future. Was that *Two of Us* filing you submitted a while ago yours?"

Wu Yuchen continued to nod.

"That's very good! This is the kind of film that our broad masses of people love to see."

Ten minutes later, Wu Yuchen came out with He Guangying. There was basically no criticism; it was just some words of advice and encouragement. Wu Yuchen, of course, knew that this was thanks to the light of Old Man He beside him.

Old Man He patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile:

"Alright, this matter is settled; don't think about it anymore. Put all your effort into that *Two of Us* of yours."

After the Lantern Festival, the university immediately welcomed the start of the semester.

Although there were no red banners with large characters, as soon as the students of the Tao Jingying Academy returned to school, they all knew the news that had spread: freshman director Wu Yuchen's *Bus 44* had won the Jin Xiong for Best Short Film at the Berlin Film Festival!

Even though many people had already seen *Bus 44* and felt that this short film was indeed shot quite impressively, they hadn't expected it to be so powerful to this extent.

And when class started, some teachers even directly suggested that students should observe this *Bus 44* more and learn from it.

Learn what?

Those studying cinematography analyze the lens language; those studying screenwriting analyze the story rhythm and the script's connotation; as for directors, they all learn!

For a time, Wu Yuchen became a big celebrity at the Tao Jingying Academy, and many students ran over to enthusiastically beg for *Bus 44* to be screened again.

Wu Yuchen naturally wouldn't refuse this request. The so-called "cannot be widely disseminated" by the "Big Scissors" refers to printing videotapes and discs; no one cares about this kind of internal school screening.

However, after returning to school, Wu Yuchen did one thing first.

Inside a classroom, all the members of the film group, as well as Huang Lei, were called over, and they were all excitedly chatting with each other about *Bus 44* winning the award.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Wu Yuchen brought out a bag:

"Everyone also knows that *Bus 44* won an award. Every one of you here contributed to being able to shoot this short film, and I have also recorded your initial investments one by one. The film has made some money, and today is the time to reward everyone."

Someone below heard this and shouted with a smile: "Director Wu, keep this money! Being able to follow you to shoot a Berlin Jin Xiong short film is enough for us to brag about for years!"

Everyone laughed out loud upon hearing this.

Wu Yuchen also smiled and then took 15 stacks of banknotes out of the bag:

"I kept a portion for myself, enough to spend. This is 150,000, divided according to the initial investment ratio."

Truly seeing the huge sum of 150,000 placed before their eyes, a group of students didn't make a sound; the classroom was dead silent, as this money was simply too much.

Wu Yuchen first walked to Huang Lei:

"Senior Huang Shixiong, your investment was the largest; this is your 20,000-plus."

Huang Lei was slightly embarrassed; he hadn't even thought about getting this money back: "This..."

"Senior Huang Shixiong, you set an example; if you don't accept it, who would dare to?"

Seeing this, Huang Lei accepted the money and then said with a smile: "Following you this time was truly a huge profit!"

Next, Wu Yuchen began to distribute it one by one.

120,000 US dollars, according to the exchange rate of 8-something at the time, was just over 1 million yuan. After deducting the little he spent on shopping for gifts in Berlin, and buying a mobile phone these past two days, 960,000 remained.

150,000 was given to these people as dividends, then he gave Jiang Qinqin, Duan Long, and Sun Honglei a red envelope of 2,000 yuan each, and he kept the remaining 800,000 for himself to invest in the stock market to buy Changhong stocks.

Wu Yuchen was not a moral gentleman who would distribute all the money. But he was also not a miser; he had to repay those who had helped him.

150,000 was truly not a small amount, with a return of nearly 5 times for each person, and there was also the resume of participating in the Berlin Jin Xiong for Best Short Film. Wu Yuchen felt he had done right by everyone.

After a group of people divided the money, they were all beaming with joy, and some even felt regret for having invested too little initially. After all, look at Old Jia; he alone received nearly 20,000 yuan!

Old Jia held the 20,000 yuan in his hand, both happy and excited. This money, plus what he had saved from part-time jobs over the past few months, was enough for him to shoot his *Xiao Shan Going Home*!

At this time, in the girls' dormitory, Chen Shasha and several other girls were all surrounding Jiang Qinqin, touching the fashionable clothes she had bought from abroad, listening to her constantly recount the experience of this trip to Berlin, simply envious to the point of no return.

Initially, Yin Qiaoqiao was only slightly envious of Jiang Qinqin, who had acted in *Bus 44*, but she hadn't expected this short film to actually win the Jin Xiong, and Jiang Qinqin had also suddenly become a Jin Xiong lead actress!

Going to Berlin, participating in a top-tier film festival, winning a big award, changing into new clothes—watching Jiang Qinqin's experience and changes this month simply made Yin Qiaoqiao envious, jealous, and hateful!

How did she happen to run into all the good things!

And that Wu Yuchen, she had thought he only had a bit of talent, but it turned out he not only won a big award but was now shooting a feature film. How come she hadn't seen that he was so capable back then?

If she had known, she would have made a move earlier. Wasn't he just a little boy who had just entered university? Wouldn't he be easy to take down?

Yin Qiaoqiao rolled her eyes and then said with a smile:

"Qinqin, such a big happy event, shouldn't you treat everyone to a meal? Call that genius director of yours too, let us pay our respects~"

Hearing this, the girls also joined in the clamor one after another.

"No problem! I'll treat you all to a meal, but Wu Yuchen is still busy with his feature film, so he might not have time."

Jiang Qinqin smiled on the surface, but she was a bit vigilant in her heart. If it were someone else saying this, it would be fine, but Yin Qiaoqiao's threat was too high; she didn't want to test friendship and love.

Since returning from Berlin this time, Jiang Qinqin fully realized that she had picked up a treasure—good-looking and capable—which made her incredibly happy, so she had to keep a close watch.

Yin Qiaoqiao also smiled and didn't say anything more, but she gave a light hum in her heart, thinking about how much she could protect him.

On the other side, after Wu Yuchen finished distributing the money, at everyone's request, he gave another thorough talk about his experiences during the Berlin Film Festival and popularized a lot of common knowledge about film festivals, which left this group of people full of longing, and it took a long time before they dispersed.

Before leaving, Wu Yuchen also gave the gifts he brought from Berlin to Huang Lei; his help in shooting *Bus 44* was indeed great.

At this time, the pager on his body rang again. After looking at it, he directly took out his mobile phone and dialed. There were still many people who didn't know he had changed to a mobile phone, so he had to keep the pager with him at all times.

"Hello, I am Wu Yuchen."

"Wu Yuchen, I'm back in Beijing~"

The voice on the other end of the phone carried a trace of joy; it was none other than Zeng Li. ===== CHAPTER 69 =====